A's territories
by GottaLoveAlex
Summary: What if 'A' wasn't only interested in the 4 Pretty Little Liars? What if 'A' had other targets? And what if 'A' found out that the four Liars know that they aren't the only victims?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Liars were at Spencer's. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, in brief, a cliché day. Then the doorknob spun. A quiet Toby snuck behind Spencer and put his hands on her eyes. She quickly got up, spun on her heels, wrapped her arms around his neck, and they both shared a passionate kiss.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Hanna asked Spencer.

"Nope, not that I know of" came the reply.

Spencer headed to the door and opened it. A brunette with curly locks was standing there, the Rosewood observer in hand.

"Is Spencer Hastings here?" she shyly asked.

"That's me. How can I…"

"And are Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields here as well?" she interrupted.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Are you four alone?"

Spencer was losing patience. "What do you want?"

"Please, it's just…I… are you girls alone?"  
"No, my boyfriend's here. What?!" Spencer's voice was gradually getting louder. This attracted the people inside.

"Spence, what's wrong?" asked Aria, a bit concerned.

Spencer didn't have time to reply, as the stranger preceded her. "Can..can I talk to you girls in private?"

The four Liars looked at each other, consulting each other.

"Okay", said Emily.

"Toby? Can you please leave us alone a bit?" asked Spencer, a little bit sad to see her love one leave her so fast.

"Yeah, no prob."

The girl looked down as Toby passed by her. She was a little embarrassed to interrupt the girls' day, but she had no choice. This was important. A lot.

"Okay then. Let's sit outside and you can start by telling us your name" suggested Spencer.

The girls went ahead, followed by the soon-to-be not-so stranger.

"My name is Alex", she started mumbling.

"Hey! Just like your ex, Spence" said Hanna jokingly.

They all gave her that look that told her to shut up.

"This is gonna sound weird but are you getting like..text messages and threats from… emmm… 'A'?"

A wave of silence occupied the room. Aria tried to break it, "Why are you asking this?"

The girl relaxed a bit. That answer in the form of a question meant yes.

"Because I've been getting them too…"


	2. A Clue

Chapter 2

"What?!"

The girls were shocked. 'A' wasn't messing with just them! A feeling of relief mixed with fear, shock and disbelief came over them. They tried to process things.

"I guess you now want the full story, right?"

Everyone nodded. Alex took a deep breath then started her story:

"My best friend had her way of getting everything she ever wanted through blackmailing, bribing, manipulating or using her puppy dog effect but never through pleading. She hated it. It was a sign of weakness, and she'd never show anything like that. Other than that, she was never nice or friendly towards the weak, but she'd rather bring them down. Even though she was mean, I hung around with her because she was the 'it' girl, the girl that everybody wanted to be like or even have the chance to be friends with. Every time she mocked the nerds, I could see the pain in their eyes, that desire to accost her and beat the crap out of her. I could smell the revenge cooking in the pot. But they never did anything about it, they couldn't.

Then one night, at a sleepover, she got a text. She froze then put herself back together and said she had to leave. I asked why, and she said that it was a family emergency. I shrugged, so she said her goodbyes and left. And it was the last time I ever heard from her. But when she was reading the text, I heard her mumble, "A….bitch…it's the last time". I didn't give it much attention until I said the same exact thing one night. That's when I realized that when 'A' loses toys, 'A' will find new ones.

My friend always underestimated the nerds. And I think that was the thing that led to her murder. The helpless that she hurt hurt her back. I think it's them, the 'A' team, because I would always see them in groups, throwing glances at us, glances that wanted to pierce our souls and burn them.

They started standing up to her, showing signs of courage and confidence that later evolved into challenging signs of evil and revenge.

When our friend disappeared, we started getting text messages from 'A'.

I think 'A' wants us to pay for what we did, for not standing up to the bully and defending them. We could have stopped Alison DiLaurentis from always having that smirk on her face, but we didn't. So we're suffering now like they did and even worse, because we were also the cause of their pain.

When I saw you four on the first page of the Rosewood Observer more than once with these incredible stories, resembling mine, I immediately knew you were being haunted by 'A'." She pointed to the newspaper that was still in her hands.

So many thoughts were rushing through the Liars' heads. Alison? Their Alison DiLaurentis? She was head of another clique? Is it possible that the hunted became the hunters? A gunshot suddenly interrupted their thoughts. A second ago Alex was standing there talking, the next, she was lying on the ground, holding her bleeding shoulder, moaning in pain.

Before the girls could lean over her, that familiar buzz made them immobile. They took out their phones and read in one voice: "That's what happens to snitches. –A"


	3. The Real Snitch

Thirty minutes earlier, a pair of blue eyes was watching the girls, observing every move they made and listening to every sound and word coming out of their mouths, through ear bug devices placed everywhere. Toby was still in his "girlfriend's" garden, well hidden behind the bushes. The colours around him were cheerful and joyful, but his heart was dark, emotionless and evil. When Alex was still talking, he sent a message to 'the big A', informing his boss what was going on. The answer was, like always, "Good, Toby". It didn't bother him that he was betraying people who cared about him. He didn't even know the meaning of caring. He never had it.

_Toby had never met his employer. Back when he had to help Jenna with her disability, a car had stopped in front of him, a door had opened, and a guy had asked him to get in. Toby had hesitated at first then had got in. After it, he realized that to him, it was one of the best decisions of his life. The guy had made a deal with him: befriend the girls, stalk them and stay close to them then text a specific blocked number to debrief, in return, this will provide him his revenge on the girls. But something better had happened. He started dating one of his targets; it was the perfect cover. He would be trusted even more, closer to the girls and better informed._

Later, Toby saw on the roof of a nearby building a little spark. That's when he knew that his role was over. While he was walking away, he heard a gunshot. He blenched then walked away even faster. He briefly turned around to see Spencer, with a panicking look on her face, talking on the phone. "Ah! What would we do without 911?" he thought to himself with a smirk forming on his face.

The sirens of an ambulance closed in as Toby had disappeared. The four Liars watched as paramedics strapped an unconscious Alex to the stretcher. The police were here as well, some asking how she got her wound and who could have done it while others were fencing Spencer's house with crime scene tape.

Spencer sat on her home's porch, despaired that they were going to be on the cover of every newspaper in town, again, and not in a good way. Plus she had to deal with her parents. And her house was a crime scene. But the worst thing was that she still had her AP French homework to do.


	4. The Aftermath

The girls tried to comfort Spencer after the police had finished.

"Hey Spence, chill!" said Emily, "We can tell the cops to forbid this story from going out to the public. Or they could say that it was a stray bullet. I bet they'll understand, I mean we've spent so much time at the police station, that the officers are practically our pals" she added, a smile on her face.

Spencer couldn't help but chuckle. Emily had a point. And between being questioned about a murder and being accused of one, the girls had befriended the police.

What about her parents? It was Hanna's turn to come up with an idea: tell them really bad news then the actual news that would seem better than the first. In another way, tell them that there was a shooting in their yard, but at least the girl was wounded not dead.

"Speaking of Alex," said Aria, "we need to check on her."  
"You guys go, I need to tell my parents what happened" replied Spencer.  
"Tell them what? That a messed up person called 'A' shot a girl that told us she was being haunted by him or her as well?" said Hanna sarcastically.  
"Well that pretty much summarizes everything, but no Hanna, I'm gonna tell them that a girl was in the garden and was shot for some reason, probably a stray bullet" was Spencer's reply.  
"Yeah, sure, that sounds believable" continued Hanna in the same tone of voice. "Anyway we're off to the hospital. See you there Spence."  
And without adding anything else, the three girls were soon out of Spencer's sight.

She took a deep breath and waited for her parents' arrival which didn't take long. She walked up to them and told them an undetailed story of what had happened.

At the hospital, Aria, Hanna and Emily sat outside Alex's hospital room waiting for the doctor, which to their surprise was none other than Wren. He came to them with his poker face on, leaving their worries escalate. When he stood in front of them, Emily couldn't wait for him to speak, so she immediately asked him: "How is she?"  
"The surgery went fine," said Wren, "and the wound isn't deep nor is it serious. But she's lost a lot of blood, and she went into shock, so there is no guaranty that she will live."

The girls, who had stood up earlier at the sight of Wren, slowly sat down in disbelief. This time, his adorable English accent didn't ease their concerns. It was a gunshot in the shoulder for God's sake! Not in the abdomen or something like that. But as usual, they got the text that would usually arrive at hard times like this: "Toby or not Toby, that is the question. –A"


	5. At the Hospital

_Alex was running in a sort of white room that seemed infinite, never ending. Every turn she took made her more lost than she already was. The white was starting to hurt her eyes. Then, huge red "A" letters started falling from out of the blue, engulfing her. She was sinking deeper and deeper as she was trying to free herself from the "A" quick sands. Then it all went dark. _

Alex suddenly sat up straight in her hospital bed, just waking up from her nightmare. Aria was sitting in a chair next to her, as the girls had agreed to stay by her side, alternating shifts, until she woke up. Aria was surprised to see Alex wake up this panicked. She quickly missed called Emily, letting the girls know that their friend had awoken. She then gave Alex a concerned look, to which the girl relaxed and lain down on her bed. It took her a while to recall what had happened: the meeting, the shooting, and then … nothing, a blank space in her memory. Aria started telling her about the ambulance, her being unconscious for days, and the doctors' speculations about her not getting round. Meanwhile, Spencer, Hanna and Emily quietly got in the room trying not to disturb the patient.

Alex looked up at them: "And now what?"  
The three girls glanced at Spencer. "No! It's not possible!" she exclaimed.  
"At least show her the text", told her Emily.  
"Fine!" Spencer took out her iPhone, scrolled through her special file containing all the messages from 'A' and showed Alex the last one.  
Alex read it out loud: " 'Toby or not Toby, that is the question. –A', what is that supposed to mean, and who is Toby?"  
"Toby's her boyfriend", said Hanna pointing at Spencer.  
"I think 'A' is threatening him", continued Spencer.  
"Or…", started Aria.  
"No, I already told you guys it's not true", interrupted Spencer.

Alex was confused. "Wait, what's not true? Can we stop the private conversations please?"  
"Okay it's possible, and I repeat Spence, POSSIBLE, that Toby is in some kind of trouble or … cheating on Spencer –at that last sentence, Hanna lowered her voice, afraid of Spencer's reaction- and that 'A' is exposing that to us for some reason."  
"If it's true, this exposure is for a very specific reason, Hanna, and that's to destroy Spencer" said Emily. She then turned to look at Spencer: "You're A's favorite target because you are the most challenging one. Remember Mona asking you to join the 'A' team? Don't you think that destroying us one by one, from the strongest link to the weakest, is the best revenge? And emotional damage is worse than the physical one."

Nobody replied. Nobody could. How could they reply at what Emily had just said? She had spoken what everybody was afraid to admit, even to themselves. The silence between them wasn't awkward, it was a way to confirm the fact that they were all thinking about the same thing and the same torturer. Then a nurse came in to check on Alex's morphine dose. She was astonished to find her awake, so she left to find the doctor. Alex told the Liars: "I think you should follow Toby. I know you don't like that Spencer but if he's in danger or if he's endangering you, you need to know."

Spencer nodded. She wasn't quite sure what to do. Following her boyfriend around meant that she didn't trust him. However, she did, with her life. But if something is really going on, she had to know. The nurse had interrupted her thoughts – like always someone had to interrupt her thoughts- and she needed more time to think. "I'll chew on it."


	6. Confrontation

Spencer spent the whole night awake, thinking about Toby, whether he had done something to himself or her. At dawn, she finally decided that Alex was right: she needed to know, albeit she considered following Toby being wrong. After making up her mind, she put her head on her pillow and instantly fell asleep, only to be awoken by her alarm clock ten minutes later.  
A look of frustration formed on her face as she waved her hand above and around the clock, trying to silence it. It finally shut up when she pushed it off her bedside table. She slowly got up, brushed her teeth, got dressed, arranged her hair in a cute ponytail then went downstairs to make herself two cups of coffee. She needed them if she wanted to stay awake during her courses.

At school, she met up with her friends.  
"Judging by the cup of coffee that is still in your hand and that tired look on your face, I'm guessing you stayed awake the whole night. Am I right or am I right?" asked Emily.  
"I think we need to follow Toby", said Spencer reluctantly.

The girls couldn't believe it: they thought Spencer would never change her mind. But she'd obviously given it a lot of thoughts.  
"After school? We can meet up at my house", suggested Aria.  
"Good, that will give me time to change from heels into sneakers", said Hanna.

They all laughed then went in as the bell rang. At about 5pm, they were all at Aria's, and Hanna had her sneakers on. They watched Toby get into his car, then they followed him, leaving a distance not to look suspicious. They kept on going for a while, then after twists and turns, they finally arrived at the Lost Woods Resort. They silently followed him to the furthest cabin. There was something they didn't notice before… he was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie and black leather gloves. They agreed to go inside and confront him. They barged into the cabin then stood still at the sight of Toby on the phone, surrounded by what seemed to be from the point of view of the girls millions of photos of them, Alison, their parents, their friends, by voodoo dolls and black clothing. Toby turned around when he heard them and dropped his phone. He then grabbed the closest Liar to him by her wrist, Hanna, and twisted it behind her back, making her let out a small scream. He approached a knife to her throat and started to slowly retreat, using his victim as a cover. They disappeared shortly after, leaving the girls dead worried about Hanna.


	7. Finding Hanna

Aria and Emily looked at Spencer who was pale and still frozen, not a single finger had moved since she walked through the door. She suddenly collapsed on the ground losing consciousness.

When she opened her eyes, she didn't know where she was. She remembered …Toby? The Lost Woods Resort? Was that real? She realized that her legs were held up high on cushions and that she was in her room. She saw Aria and Emily by her side.  
"Please tell me that Hanna is out getting coffee", she said, hoping that what she had in mind wasn't true.  
"Spence…I'm sorry", said Aria.

Spencer closed her eyes, having lost that little hope that was still shining inside of her. All of a sudden, Caleb stormed in, shouting: "Where the hell is  
Hanna? What did Toby do to her?"  
That didn't make Spencer open her eyes, but it did remind her of her pain.  
"I'm going out to look for her," said Caleb, his voice determined, already heading for the door.

* * *

"Put your hands on the car" Toby ordered Hanna.  
She didn't react. Even _she_ didn't know why: because she was shocked? Betrayed? Or maybe scared… . He repeated his order, and Hanna fulfilled it, not aware of what she was doing. He took her hands and duct taped them behind her back. "Duct tape fixes everything", he said sarcastically. Then he took a wrench from his truck, spun it in his hand and hit her on her head, hard. She lost consciousness, and red blood ran through her blond hair. He put her in the backseat then rode away. He got to a deserted part just outside of Rosewood. He got out, dragged her out and left her in the middle of the road, then disappeared.

* * *

Caleb was wandering in the silent streets of Rosewood like a lost puppy looking for his master. It was around 3am, and nothing but the moonlight and the car lights were leading his way.

He got a text: "I think Hanna is out of town. –A".  
Caleb immediately understood, and he pressed the gas pedal, trying to go as fast as he could. He quickly saw the sign saying "Thank you for visiting Rosewood. Drive safely!" When he looked away, he saw a person lying in his way. Hanna! She was just regaining consciousness, and she definitely did not want to be hit by a car once again. He spun the steering wheel to the extreme right. But he lost control of the car, which turned on itself multiple times before it stopped, all four wheels touching the ground.

Everything around Caleb was blurry. But something was stronger than the pain, his concern about Hanna, his love for her. That was what got him out of the car and to the road where he saw Hanna trying to get up, tears of horror in her eyes. She immediately ran to the swaying Caleb and threw her body on his. He softly hugged her and removed the tape off her hands. They put their bleeding foreheads on each other's and kissed passionately.

She put her hands on his cheeks and pulled him closer. She let out a small relieved laugh, everything was okay now, well almost everything.  
"We need to get you to the hospital", she told him.  
"Me?! You're the one whose hair has turned red!" he replied with a smile.  
"Fine! We'll go and share!"  
"Deal! But I gotta call the girls first to reassure them."  
"Emm…let's call an ambulance too 'cause we can't drive and we don't have anything to drive in either."


	8. The Last Stand

The next day, Hanna, Caleb and Alex were at the hospital, Aria and Emily were visiting them, Toby had disappeared from the face of the earth, and Spencer was trying to find him; she needed explanations.

Finally, she thought that he should be in the Lost Woods Resort, packing everything up and erasing evidences. She drove there as fast as she could before it was too late. When she arrived, everything came back to her: the revelation, the shock, the feeling of being betrayed by the person she loved the most… . She felt goosebumps all over her body and creeps were consuming her. She shook those feelings off and walked towards the last cabin.

She went in as he was packing the last bag. He turned around, a gun in his hand. The pain she was feeling on her way there quickly turned into anger that was transformed into courage and force.  
"You wanna shoot me? Go ahead!" she defied him. "You've already hurt me, and the second time won't make a difference."  
Toby hesitated a bit: leaving people to die was easy but killing them directly was another thing.

As he fired his weapon, she moved out of the bullet's trajectory, and took advantage of that one lesson of Tae-Kwan-Do she had taken: she took his arm in between hers and pulled them closer which made him lean forward out of pain. She then hit him in the stomach with her knee. He released the gun and fell to the floor. She kicked him several times letting out her frustration, then grabbed the 9 mm and pointed it at him.

To her surprise, he let out a small laugh which started to get louder until he burst out laughing.  
"You don't know what you're up against!" he said with a smirk. "I'm gonna tell you a secret bitch: I'm not the only one and I'm definitely not the last one. Neither are you girls. When you mistreat people, karma always gets revenge. Just ask your new friend… or Ali's other best friends. Ah! So many people to blackmail and hurt! Did you honestly think that a person alone could do all that? I thought you were the smartest. Maybe I was wrong, Spence-Spence."

She screamed for him to shut up. She couldn't hold back her tears, so she hit him on the head with the back of the gun: he passed out. Then, she called Emily, not being able to call the police herself, and told her everything that had happened between sobs.

A bit later, Spencer heard sirens get closer. She got up from the porch she was sitting on and headed towards the flashing police cars and ambulance. Emily and Aria saw an emotionless swaying Spencer walking towards them, a gun in hand. They ran to her and hugged her, but the hug was interrupted by the police officers who wanted to hear the details of everything that happened.

In the afternoon, everyone gathered back at the hospital, and for the very first time, they saw a broken Spencer. She was like the phoenix, she had burnt herself to the ground to find Toby and confront him, and now, they were gonna see what will rise out of the ashes.

"But what I don't understand is why did 'A' give us the name of his or her or its – I don't know – minion", wondered Aria.  
"I've already said it. 'A' wants to destroy us, starting with the strongest link" replied Emily.

Spencer looked away then said: "We haven't seen the last of 'A'. We started hanging out with Alison years ago, and right now, we are still paying for it. Until every person Alison hurt gets locked away, this 'A' thing will not end. But thanks to Alex, we might be able to finish this."

* * *

**I wanted to thank everyone who read this. It was the first time I write something like that, so I hope you enjoyed it :)) I couldn't end it completely because I can't really say who Big A is, you'll know from the actual show.**


End file.
